SPRINGFIELD – Springfield’s Roman Catholic Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell has joined religious leaders everywhere in a fierce reaction to the national healthcare law’s mandate to include free contraceptives and other birth control.

McDonnell will release a letter at local Catholic Masses on Sunday denouncing the mandate as an attack on religious liberties of all faiths.

“The federal government, which claims to be ‘of, by, and for the people,’ has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people – the Catholic population – and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful,” the letter reads, in part.

A copy of the message was provided to The Republican; it will be released in its entirety to local parishioners on Sunday.

Among the provisions of the new health care law is its requirement that all health plans provide “preventive services” for free. That category includes vaccines, mammograms, cholesterol checkups and mammograms. Starting this year, it also includes coverage of birth control contraceptives and the so-called “Plan B” or morning-after pill.

The law exempts churches and other religious entities that primarily employee same-faith workers, but religious-affiliated agencies such as colleges and hospitals will be expected to fall in line and provide the benefits or face stiff fines.

“Catholic Bishops in principle are, of course, not opposed to health care in this country ... but the government is really crashing though our constitutional protections. Our expectation is that if someone works for us they shouldn’t violate any key moral principals we hold dear,” and the church certainly shouldn’t have to pay for it,” said diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont.

McDonnell will join the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and his counterparts across the state in decrying the law to parishioners in written pleas at Masses this weekend, saying the church will resort to flouting federal law if need be.

“Unless the rule is overturned, Catholic entities will be compelled either to violate conscience, or drop health coverage for employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply ... We cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law,” McDonnell wrote.

The rule will not go into effect for a year. In the meantime, two religious colleges have sued, their complaints bolstered by a prior unanimous Supreme Court decision that expanded the definition of religious freedom.

Attempts to reach officials at the Catholic-run Mercy Medical Center and Elms College were unsuccessful.

Dupont said the diocese already provides prescription coverage to its employees under its healthcare plan, but excludes birth control contraceptives.

“Most Catholic women do use birth control at some point. I’m a practicing Catholic and I have used birth control at various points in my life,” Wajda said. “Birth control is a type of preventative medicine and every person in this country deserves a basic standard of health care.”

She added that Planned Parenthood also supports the right of every individual to practice religion without interference from the government or employers.

A research firm commissioned by Planned Parenthood in a 2010 survey found 71 percent of voters polled believed birth control should be provided under insurance plans. Contraceptive use by Catholics – including those who attend religious services most frequently – is the norm, according to a report by the Washington D.C.-based Guttmacher Institute. Use of birth control among sexually active women is nearly universal, it found.